A letter authored by Windowizards president David Goodman, says he was unaware that the marketing materials may misrepresent the amount of foam installation in some of the windows offered to its customers.

“We deeply regret any potential confusion caused by the portrayal of foam installation in our marketing materials …. We are taking immediate corrective action to clarify the qualities and attributes of all the products we offer to avoid any potential misrepresentation in the future,” Goodman said in the letter.

The foam allegations originated with a former installer, according to the report, who in December 2006 cut open a window that was supposed to be foam filled but, according to the installer, had no foam inside.

Patrick Egan, an attorney with Fox Rothschild LLP, representing Windowizards, also wrote a letter to Fox News and addressed many of the allegations against the company.

“Window Wizards has also checked its inventory and customer records since your interview with Mr. Goodman. While we did receive reports of defective foam injection in a handful of windows-eight to be exact-all customer concerns were resolved in a satisfactory manner. We ask that you consider the source of charges made about windows lacking foam : a former disgruntled contractor,” said Egan.

Following the newscast, Goodman issued another statement further addressing the concerns of its customers.

“At Windowizards’ request, OKNA, the manufacturer of the windows in question is present at our facility inspecting every window to ensure that it has proper foam content before it is installed,” said Goodman. “Window Wizards intends to respond to every inquiry by sending a technician to the customer’s home to ensure that the windows are properly foamed and to make modifications where appropriate.”

DWM contacted OKNA Windows to learn more about those inspections but our call was not returned at press time.

While this incident is receiving a good amount of publicity due to the news story, Charles Gentry of Carson and Coil P.C. in Jefferson City, Mo., an attorney who specializes in defect litigation, says stories such as this are certainly not new to the window industry.

“Nearly every case that involves alleged product defects includes claims of fraud,” says Gentry, who is not involved in this particular case, but has a great deal of experience in this area. “While fraud typically requires substantial proof to stick, it also opens manufacturers up to punitive damages. Insurance companies will not cover such claims leaving the manufacturer fighting with its own money. Also, most states provide consumer protection laws that are often times applicable and easier to prove. Such laws typically provide for double and triple damages and attorneys’ fees.”

As such, Gentry warns that it’s best to make sure your product and product literature are in agreement.

“In most cases, such claims are relatively easy to defend,” he says. “However, when the facts line up where a manufacturer’s sales literature and the end product don’t match, look out. If a jury believes a company was lying to increase profits, they’ll be angry. Angry juries typically award big verdicts.”

Gentry reminds companies to review all sales literature, websites, brochures, warranties, spec sheets, installation instructions, etc., to make certain they are in harmony with the product itself.

“As the green movement continues to take front and center stage and the Internet provides instant access to consumers, manufacturers must be more diligent than ever to provide what they promise they provide,” says Gentry.

“The plaintiffs’ bar is in the bushes waiting to strike when manufacturers trip up, intentionally or not,” he adds.

Stein reports that his Norandex branch is selling an average of 45 residential window jobs a month.

“Our overall numbers are running fairly close to 2008 sales,” says Stein. “In today’s economy, I’m certain those numbers would be far lower if the tax credit was not available.”

Jim O’Bryon, window department manager for McClure Johnston in Pittsburgh echoes these sentiments and says what helped him was the fact that he was informed of the qualifying products and was able to pass this information on easily to his customers.

(Shelter magazine found this isn’t always the case. CLICK HERE for an article detailing editor Samantha Carpenter’s experience when she searched for energy-efficient windows to purchase for her home.)

“We got out in front of this opportunity quickly,” said O’Bryon. “In many cases our contractor customers were the only ones in our market who truly knew and understood the tax credit issue. That’s helped them take full advantage of a unique selling opportunity and gain extremely high close rates.”

“Customers will enjoy the same level of product offerings and professional service they have come to expect since I started the business back in 1976,” said Hall, who will serve as general manager of the facility. “Our combined ability to expand the business and to provide a wider selection of products and services will help our Kalispell customers continue to grow.”

In related news, one news outlet reports that the company will close its Racine, Wis., location. CLICK HERE for that story.

But he adds that Congress needs to take action to make sure this positive news continues.

“The key to moving us out of recession is to get Americans back to work,” he said. “Congress and the Administration should know that housing can be a significant generator of good jobs. We need to make housing a priority in the recovery process, otherwise we could continue to bounce along a bottom for some time.”

More good news was that the gain in home sales was reflected in three out of four regions (Sales activity declined 5.3 percent in the South, which is the country’s largest housing market) and helped shrink the inventory of new homes for sale to its lowest level in years, according to NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe.

“Even so, the pace of home sales in June 2009 was still more than 21 percent off the pace of sales in the same month last year, so we still have quite a way to go. The concern now is that complicating factors - particularly job losses, appraisal issues that are torpedoing more than a quarter of new-home sales, and the impending expiration of the first-time buyer tax credit - threaten to stifle the positive momentum.”

The number of newly built homes on the market declined for a 26th consecutive month in June, falling 4.1 percent to 281,000 units. This marks a relatively thin 8.8-month supply at the current sales pace, according to the NAHB.

Kermit Baker, director of the Remodeling Futures Program at the Joint Center for Housing Studies, adds that while a few components of the LIRA point to renewed strength in the industry, the overall outlook going into 2010 is still bleak.

“There are some positive developments for the remodeling industry, such as low financing costs for home improvement projects and rising home sales in a growing number of markets,” says Baker. “Weak home prices and decreased cost recovery for most types of remodeling projects, however, discourage owners from pursuing typical upper-end improvements.”

The Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA) is designed to estimate national homeowner spending on improvements for the current quarter and subsequent three quarters.

“One impediment to seeking certification is certainly cost; according to Random Lengths’ survey respondents, the average cost of obtaining and maintaining certification is $19,898 annually,” says Russell Richardson, SFPA’s director of industrial markets. “Five respondents noted even higher costs into the six figures. While many companies are not embracing certification programs, they are hearing a lot about it and are working to accommodate their customers.”

SFPA surveyed Southern Pine producers who are members of the Southern Pine Council and Random Lengths surveyed a broader industry representation, including producers, wholesalers, distributors and retailers.

Following are items of interest from the results from SFPA respondents:
• Approximately 61 percent do not use a certification system;
• Approximately 46 percent of Southern Pine producers do not plan to seek certification any time soon;
• Approximately 60 percent of Southern Pine producers receive regular requests for certified products; and
• About 89 percent feel it is important to market Southern Pine lumber as a “green” product.

Following are items of interest from the results from Random Lengths respondents:
• Approximately 56 percent do not engage in a certification program; and
• Seeking certification depends heavily on “regional market variances, whether the customer base is residential or commercial, and whether a seller seeks a share of government projects that require green certification.”

“Based on the numbers we are seeing from the surveys, the feelings of the wood products industry toward certification is a mixed bag,” adds Richardson. “They like the fact that they are being environmentally conscious. They also have to balance their investment in certification in order to maintain a viable business model. Certification is now just over 15 years old. The era of green building has significantly accelerated the demand for certification throughout the lengthy wood products supply chain. Watch green building closely, just as new building construction affects demand of traditional wood products, green building construction will affect demand of certified wood products.”

For example, Crowe pointed out that a quarter of all new-home sales are falling through due to appraisal issues that are tied to the use of distressed and foreclosed properties as comps.

Other positive housing news came from the Commerce Department which reported that housing starts and permits posted substantial gains in June. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) says this is due in part to improved market conditions and the impending expiration of the first-time buyer tax credit.

“The upcoming expiration of the first-time home buyer tax credit on December 1 is encouraging some builders to get homes started now so that they can be completed in time for clients to take advantage of this attractive buying incentive,” says NAHB chairman Joe Robson, a home builder from Tulsa, Okla. “However, there is still much concern about the difficulty of financing new-home production and continuing weakness in the job market.”

The figures showed a 3.6 percent gain in overall housing starts to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 582,000 units and an 8.7 percent gain in permit issuance to 563,000 units.

Single-family housing starts rose for a fourth consecutive month in June, posting a 14.4 percent gain to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 470,000 units, while single-family permits rose for a third consecutive month, posting a 5.9 percent gain to 430,000 units. Meanwhile, the multi-family side, which characteristically displays greater month-to-month volatility, posted a 25.8 percent decline in starts following an unsustainably large gain in the previous month, to 112,000 units. Multi-family permits rose 18.8 percent to 133,000 units from an abnormal low in May.

Regionally, housing starts were mixed, with the Northeast and Midwest posting big gains of 28.6 percent and 33.3 percent, respectively, and the South and West posting declines of 1.4 percent and 14.8 percent, respectively. However, the declines in both the South and West were entirely driven by dips in multifamily production.
Permit issuance was up across the board in June, with the Northeast posting a 5.4 percent gain, the Midwest a 3.4 percent gain, the South a nearly 14 percent gain and the West a nearly 2 percent gain.

CLICK HERE to register, view a schedule of events, learn more about speakers, seminars and more.

Green Seal inspectors visited Champion’s Cincinnati and Denver manufacturing facilities to ensure that it met its energy efficiency and environmental standards, according to the company.

“Champion is proud that our products not only save customers money, but are also manufactured in an environmentally friendly way,” says Don Jones, president and of Champion. “The Green Seal certification is evidence of our hard work and demonstrates that we want the best for the homeowners who use our products and services.”

Champion says that the intent of Green Seal’s environmental requirements is to reduce, to the extent technologically and economically feasible, the environmental impacts associated with the manufacture, use and disposal of products. Set on a category-by-category basis, Green Seal Environmental Standards focus on significant opportunities to reduce a product’s environmental impact.

“While we had every hope and intention of riding out this market correction without making adjustments like this, it has become clear that these actions are necessary to protect the company’s financial strength and flexibility given the fading prospects for a near-term housing market recovery,” said Jay Lund, president of the Andersen Window and Door Group.

In January 2009, Andersen temporarily laid off nearly 600 production workers due to lower order volume. By the end of May, those employees had been called back in response to seasonal demand, a series of sales and marketing initiatives and increased orders attributed to the federal tax credit for energy efficient replacement doors and windows.

However, it wasn’t enough to keep all Andersen workers employees and Lund attributes this to two main reasons which makes the reductions necessary.

“There is mounting evidence that housing demand will not recover until late 2010 or 2011 as a result of rising unemployment, escalating foreclosures, falling home prices, limited credit and weak consumer confidence,” said Lund. “This significantly reduces our opportunity to generate the level of sales needed to profitably support a company of this size.”

He said the second factor is related to Andersen’s structure.

“Over the last decade, we’ve invested in improved technology, and we’ve strategically acquired a number of businesses that have been key to meeting customer needs with an expanded product portfolio. We’ve already integrated or restructured some functions to improve coordination and eliminate significant redundancies, and given the environment we’re now in, we’ve chosen to accelerate further integration efforts. All of this has enabled us to support the business needs with a leaner management and support staff. ”

Employees affected by the permanent job eliminations will be provided with severance pay, benefit continuation as well as help with future job searches. In addition, they can apply for state unemployment benefits, according to the company.

CLICK HERE for a related article about Andersen subsidiary Eagle Windows & Doors.